Hazelnut Cream
by Sundrop Extravaganza
Summary: Sweets weren't really his thing.
1. Basier de Sucre

**A/N: Orginally posted on A03 as a holiday!fic. Trying out for the first time by posting a chapter and wow I don't get this site at all.**

**All aboard the Sugar Rush Express; it will make your teeth rot. (You're welcome.)**

* * *

"Umm… Light?"

"What?"

"You haven't touched your chocolate ganache tart."

Lightning stood up from the Christmas tree, adjusting the glass ornaments from falling since Serah was always careless with them. She eyed her sister with passive indifference and followed her delicate finger pointed to the said sugar infused substance, sitting innocently on the fine china.

"You can have it. Not really hungry." She replied and went back to work, adding on a chain of golden stars amongst the branches, leaving Serah gawking at her from the moment Lightning turned away.

You see, sisters share a really close bond. They know what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what irritates you, what motivates you to pursue your goals and things you genuinely love. It took Serah a long time to truly understand the emotional struggle Lightning had to go through, sacrifice her childhood for her, working into the late hours to support them both, (even to point of her sister choosing this ridiculous code name!), and unfortunately, her seething hate of her fiancé, Snow. However, if someone were to ask the first and most important thing they should know about her beloved sister:

Lightning Farron likes sweets. A lot.

Since it was the start of the festive month of December, Serah wanted to start it off with a little treat she bought from her friend's patisserie before splurging on gift shopping. However, for Lightning to refuse such a delectable treat was just _impossible_ to believe.

It was like the chaos leaked from Valhalla and replaced her real sister with a clone without the sweet tooth.

* * *

In the midst of train wreck of a conversation, Yeul quietly stirred the mix of cocoa powders and steamed milk from the counter.

* * *

"WHAT? NO WAY! I ADDED THE STRAWBERRY ROSE FOR HER AND SHE STILL REFUSED?"

"Noel, I can't hear myself think." Serah pleaded.

The frustrated baker failed his arms in the air, and then ran his hands through his hair, groaning. Serah had been visiting the patisserie frequently during closing hours after hearing someone downright rejected his handcrafted delicacies over and over again.

That someone being Lightning Farron.

"Serah, it's been 3 weeks! How could she - hey, do you smell-"

"Hot chocolate with Paddra's cocoa beans for your convenience." Two deep red mugs filled with rich steaming liquid topped with large artisan marshmallows were place on the table between him and Serah.

"Wow, smells great Yeul! My mouth is already watering from these marshmallows."

"I'm pleased that you like them." Yeul smiled softly. Turning to Noel, she poked his messy hair. "Now I hoped that you have the hazelnuts in the order."

"Heh heh… I'm getting there…" Noel replied sheepishly. That only earned him a slap on the head and Yeul walking briskly back to the counter to clean off the stains on the tray. "But the papou fruit puree arrived yesterday so we don't need to worry about that!"

"I heard there is a shortage of hazelnuts this year." Serah inquired. "Isn't peppermint chocolate a popular holiday flavour?"

Noel turned toward her. "Your right, but we got a change in an order a while ago requesting some hazelnut pastries."

"Oh? It's a little odd, but I guess just some people really adore certain flavours…"

"Actually… I think that's the only flavour he likes."

Serah was absent mindedly poking the marshmallow in the hot chocolate until whatever Noel just said just registered in her mind. When Noel noticed her apparent silence, he addressed her confusion.

"That order came from the royal family apparently." He chuckled. "They have their Dynasty Ball around this time of the year and we've been asked to cater for it. Apparently someone is fond of semi-sweet desserts."

"But, your hazelnut pastries aren't really that sweet at all."

"That's because people like you don't appreciate its tasty flavour. Too much sugar used to sweeten it to the point you can't taste hazelnut anymore."

Serah wasn't really going to argue with that. She couldn't have her regular hazelnut latte or any coffee based drink without the whipped cream topping when she had to teach a bunch a tired school children every morning. Sure hazelnut was a nice flavour but for something both the Farron sisters agreed on, they liked their desserts sweet.

"I'm not being a bother now am I? It sounds like you guys have lots of orders to take care of."

"Naw, that's ok Serah, why don't you stay a little longer? The subway runs 24hr in here, so getting from Insomnia back to Bodhum shouldn't be that hard. Plus, Lightning's working late right? She's not waiting at home." Noel reached for the hot chocolate. "You can't let this go to waste can you?"

"Certainly she can't," Yeul returned with two plates: one with filled with a miscellaneous mix of cookies and one with a single slice of banana loaf. "After all, who could resist?"

"Lightning apparently…" Serah droned out.

"Ah, so I've heard." Yeul broke off a piece of the banana loaf. "Has she received cavities?"

"Absolutely not. That girl can handle her sugar better than I can." Serah mumbled while picking what seemed to be gingerbread from the cookie pile. "This behaviour started when I bought your new chocolate ganache tarts."

Throughout the last 3 weeks, Serah kept her eyes on her sister, trying her best not to make it obvious since Lightning had the intuition of a hawk. It seemed that work was well as it usually was. Adomar didn't seem to notice anything wrong with Lightning, and Fang has been picking on her like it was no one's business during the break. Serah purposefully left some of the remaining pastries in the fridge and peppermint candy around the house, but all have been left untouched, and perfectly sealed among the wrappers.

"Yeah, since then I made all her favourite sweets: raspberry macarons, fresh fruit tarts, apple turnovers, peach galettes, papou cheesecake you name it! She even down rightly reject the strawberry mousse pudding I made 3 days ago arghhhh!" Noel groaned. "Serah, she's not still mad that I gave her gyshal green salad instead of the salted caramel chocolate bunny from last Easter is she?"

The two other girls laughed. "I'm fairly certain she's not." Serah replied while taking bites off her treat.

"Umm…" Yeul started, "…although this is entirely unfair to pin point the blame on someone, do you think Snow had contributed anything to this odd behavior?"

"Surprisingly, no." Serah dusted off the crumbs from her coat.

When she eventually concluded that Snow might have said something ridiculous in front of Lightning (or at least had done something atrocious), her fiancé surprising informed her that her sister ask him to do a favour recently.

_"__Did you screw up along the way?" _

_"__Aww, have a little faith in your hero!"_

_ "__Snow…" _

_ "__Ok, ok… maybe a little, but it's alright, she got what she wanted and everything went totally a-ok!"_

Serah broke pieces from the marshmallow before consuming them in the frothy drink. _Huh, well so much for that._

"Maybe… a change in the environment… has changed her behavior?" Yeul inquired.

"Adomar said work was fine as usual, she's just been deported to Insomnia more frequently for the past two years. Environment has been literally the same."

"Ah, but my visions tell me there's something more to that."

"Yeul, physic powers can't solve our problems here." Noel bit into a chocolate drizzled cookie. He only earned another slap from Yeul, who focused her attention on Serah.

"I don't mean the physical environment, I mean… could there have been a change with the people she worked with or like a change in the atmosphere of the work place?"

Serah was already about to reject Yeul's proposal, until something clicked in her head. The Guardian Corps building was decorated with Christmas festivities, and as Adomar liked to put it, making sure they put PSICOM's sparkling reindeer to shame. Lightning wasn't in the refresh room as she usually was during the breaks either.

But Serah doubted that could have been the case. Lightning Farron was certainly not the type to be spreading holiday cheer with random people, let alone people she already knew. It took 2 years of her rejection to Fang's request to accompany her while singing on karaoke machine until she suddenly gave in one day.

Loud knocking against the doors interrupted her before she had a chance to reply.

"Who could that be? We're closed at this hour." Yeul stood up before being promptly stopped by Noel.

"You might want to sit down from this, and maybe stay far away as possible." With that he carefully strode to the entrance and opened the door.

Eyeing Noel curiously, the two ladies watched as Noel prepared a slight battle stance to block whatever he expecting from the other side. He was forcefully knocked down by a barging stranger and dragged back up by a pair of thin arms which belonged to a strange man with the strangest chocobo yellow hair Serah had ever seen.

"NOEL! HEY BUDDY HOW HAVE YA BEEN! OH MAN I MISSED YOU MY BRO-"

"Get off me, are you drunk Argentum?" Noel struggled out of his grasp.

"Hee hee, well maybe it will do you some good by making sure that frown of yours doesn't stay permanent!"

"I'm going to kick your-"

Serah was pretty sure Noel muttered some colourful words, unintelligent to Yeul and her ears. Though watching the events unfold, Noel seemed to finally agree to retrieve this fellow -_Argentum was it?-_ His regular 'midnight snack', despite it only being half past nine.

"I really doubt this may it, but could it be that Lightning has become…_self-conscious_?"

"Oh, that would actually be pretty funny-." She laughed, taking notice that the stranger was smirking at them and dismissed the gesture, until upon realizing something critical.

Lightning was never one to talk about her own problems. She always put Serah first, making sure she lived a comfortable life and preparing her a good future. Whatever Serah's interests were, she made sure her younger sister have access to achieve her goals first. Which lead to her current predicament:

_What… if Lightning… is sick?! _

Lightning was also the kind of person who wasn't one to show weakness, even in front of those closest to her. Serah didn't remember if there was a time where Lightning ever relaxed or treated herself properly.

_Oh no, does she have a tooth infection? Her jaw didn't look swollen…_

_Was the injury from the summer camping trip hurt her immune system? Is that why she's losing appetite? _

_Is she depressed because she can't eat her sweets? _

_Oh dear Etro…_

_What if…_

_What if…_

"WHAT IF SHE HAS DIABETES?!"

Yeul almost dropped her banana loaf while being taken aback by her sudden outburst. While looking frantically around trying to find how she could have been so cruel to pester such delectable dessert to add her sister's 'suffering', she caught a pair of amused eyes looking straight at her. The chocobo haired man invited himself to stroll over to their table.

"Good evening ladies," he addressed in a suave voice, "I can't help but hear that a fair maiden may be critically ill?"

"Hi Prompto." Yeul addressed softly. "I see you failed to wear your vest properly again."

The stranger, Prompto, pouted his lips childishly. "Why does everyone want to pick on me today? Look, I asked Iggy to sew on the pocket where the pocket should be!"

Unamused, Yeul bluntly replied. "I meant it's winter. Where is your jacket? If you get sick again, you'll have to ask your friend Ignis for his peppermint tea as we have run out until the holidays are over."

"Oh well, I'm not the one who is sick now am I?" He stared at Serah meaningfully.

She fidgeted with her fingers. "Well… not exactly." When he kept quiet, she continued. "My sister Lightning hasn't behaving as she usually does."

Serah didn't expect Prompto's playful smirk to drop from his face and now there is what seems to be genuine concern on his face. "Man, that sucks. I wish I could do something to help."

"Ah, but Lightning isn't really an easy person to help since she's hard to get to know." Yeul replied, offering him to help himself to the cookie plate.

Prompto gratefully helped himself to some chocolate fudge cookies. "Oh? So then what would you suggest is the first thing someone should know about this sister of yours?"

"She doesn't really look like the kind of person, but Lightning likes sweet. A lot." She replied bluntly, like she has repeated it many times before. "It's a bit of a funny pun since her real name is Éclair."

"Unfortunately, knowing that doesn't help since she actually stopped eating sweets for a bit of a while now. She's known for very high sugar tolerance according to Serah." Yeul added.

Acknowledging Yeul's remark, Prompto turned his attention to Serah. "Éclair, huh?" he snickered. "I can only imagine with hair pink like as the strawberries on my fresh fruit tart, pretty face like yours as sweet as sugar, I think I could just have diabetes just by looking at-"

Prompto was clearly prevented from sweet talking more with a loud smack to the back of his head by Noel.

"Shut up idiot, she has a fiancé." He place a large box of pastries in Prompto's hand.

"You're no fun…" Prompto pouted, but before leaving, he turned to his friend. "You know, I don't think Serah's sister is sick of your desserts Noel…" he said in between bites. He gave a dramatic pause and looked towards Serah.

"It _might_ just be that she's just found something much sweeter." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Serah wasn't sure if he was hinting at something or just being, what Lightning liked to call, annoying, but nonetheless Prompto was hit on the head by Noel again. Prompto waved goodbye to the small company and left the patisserie without snatching a couple more cookies from Yeul's generous offering.

"I wondered what he meant Lightning found something sweeter…" Yeul mumbled, her plate empty of the loaf that once occupied it.

The three of them sat quietly, pondering their thoughts until Noel cried in sheer terror, wondering if there was a competitor trying to put his patisserie out of business.

"After all we've been through Lightning! How could you?"

Throughout his agony, Serah thought she heard Prompto's mischievous snickering from the distance.

* * *

**A/N: I actually intended this to be a one shot , but anything with Prompto can't last in one chapter. So... looks like I have to continue it. **

**Thanks for reading, please leave a review!**


	2. Noctis Lucis Caelum

**A/N: Consider this a bittersweet chapter. Also that updates will be slow. Like... realllllllllllllllly slow...**

**Disclaimer: Pretty sure you guys know that I don't own the characters right? They belong to SE. I just created the fanfic and plot.**

* * *

Lucis was by meant to be known for its urban and natural landscapes. Dark skyscrapers decorate the crown city of Insomnia with golden and blue lights. The city itself was always alive with activity, but also managed to maintain the silent beauty of the night. By no means was the intention of the royal family to have their nation become a tourist attraction, let alone become a international buzzing topic, but that came along with the prosperity of the nation's sole crystal.

The only crystal remaining in the world in fact.

Unfortunately that meant certain snakes crawled their way into the Capital, causing the peaceful lives of the Lucian citizen at risk.

To make sure everyday life went by peacefully, the government kept quiet of potential threats and his majesty, King Regis, had recently updated the nation's security policy to protect its people at all cost. Only the grand council, executives from the National Security and his majesty knew of such details.

Prompto only heard of such things from King Regis about his recruitment for new soldiers and officers for potential advancement. When Prompto suggested that he participate in helping out, the King rejected his proposal.

_"Although you are a fugitive, Prompto," His majesty replied. "I can only trust you and the rest of Noctis's friends to be with him. Make sure that harm does not fall through his way."_

Prompto didn't dare to disobey the man who allowed him to stay in the palace after he escaped his country as a child. Just by walking down the streets of Insomnia, the night was a pleasant bright purple from the snow. More gently fell from the sky, prompting him to dusting the yellow of his hair with frozen flakes. He was surely grateful to live a peaceful life, having the chance to live free from the fear of corruption from his home country.

The grand palace came into view when he arrived to the large clearing, the gates already opening for him to scurry past. A guard that Prompto befriended shook the remaining flakes out of his hair when he arrived and passively commented that he might catch a cold without dressing appropriately. He only waved it off like splashing small ripples in the water.

In Lucis, there were plentiful resources. In Lucis, there were many things to do. In Lucis, there were many new things to try. But what Prompto was most grateful that Lucis had were the people who cared about him. He would have no trouble deciding how to protect this country.

Because to Prompto, Lucis is his home.

He vowed that no matter what happens, he would make sure Noctis would stay safe from harm.

* * *

"Hey Gladio, Iggy! Is sleeping beauty awake yet?"

As a confirmation, a book of commercial law was thrown aiming to hit his face. Staying true to his name, Prompto quickly dodge and stepped to the side smiling wider than ever.

"Aww don't be like that Nocty! I have food!"

"That's nice. Please shut up." was the only answer that came under the heap of dark blankets of the corner of the game room.

"Now where have you been squirt?" Gladious approached Prompto eyeing the large box he was holding.

"Oh, just went by a friend's place to get some food and met some really cute girls."

"Typical of you." Gladious helped himself to a light sponge cake. "Noel and Yeul made this right?"

Prompto diligently nodded, but shrunk behind Gladious when he noticed Ignis glaring at him behind his lens, clearly still mad at him for eating the macarons he was saving for later.

"Don't worry Iggy, I got your earl grey macarons! So now you can have your tea party with princess Noc-" Gladiolus shoved a piece of his sponge cake into Prompto's mouth before he could finished. Honestly, Prompto did not understand when he crossed the line, let alone have any sense of personal space.

Ignis didn't say anything, but retrieve his macarons from the box, while Prompto snatched an egg tart from the box and approach the sleeping figure on the couch.

"Hey Nocty, I visited Noel today."

No answer. Pushing his luck he decided to wave the pastry in front of his face. It invoked some reaction, to which Prompto thought the prince would have smacked it away, but it seems as if he refrained from doing so as he buried his face into the blankets instead. Noctis wasn't the kind of person to waste food.

"I ate lots of nice treats and also met two really pretty ladies." Noctis only groaned at his response, which was appropriate considering this is Prompto who is saying such a thing.

"Speaking of which, where has that pretty bodyguard of yours gone now?"

Noctis threw the blanket off his face, revealing his typical frown. "Deported to the Lucii National Museum tonight. There is a family event going before the official start of the holidays."

"Aww Nocty, are you lonely? Here let Prompto give you a hug!"

"Don't touch me when you are drunk." He stood up and went to attend the papers Ignis has been pestering him about. It wasn't enough to keep his chipper friend away though.

"You know…" Prompto started, "I found out something about that pretty bodyguard of yours…"

"Prompto, I told you she's not my bodyguard."

"But you also told me that you have a common interest of chocobos yes?"

"That has nothing to do with what we were talking about."

"Which was?"

"A Guardian Corps officer transferred from Bodhum to Lucis for the remaining time of her service and a chance for potential advancement. Her record says that-" Noctis stopped midway, and narrowed his already sleepy eyes at chocobo haired friend, realizing the trap Prompto lured him into. "Stop screwing around with me."

"Aww, but you were just getting to the part about her height, weight, blood type-"

A loud smack was heard throughout the room when Ignis came by after slapping Prompto from the back of his head. "Mind you, that's classified info. Only his majesty the King, the Grand Counsel and the National Security Society have access to such personal facts. Noctis shouldn't even be concerned of these details."

"But I'm Nocty's best friend too! Why can't I be part of the National Security Society?"

"Because you've violated the Lucii law by using firearms when we've banned them, driving a car without a Lucii driver's license and almost drove us off the road into the Duscae Valley when we had a schedule appointment for RHS-113 with Cidney."

"Plus to you carry that gun of yours around in public too." Gladious added, trying out some caramel brownies from the pastry box Prompto brought back.

Prompto puffed his cheeks, much like how Noctis does when he's exhausted and cranky. But as immature as he can behave, he was quick to notice facts and details about things. He turned over to Noctis, who has long been ignoring the conversation and tending to the mediocre paperwork as a 'responsible' prince should have been doing.

"What?" The prince grumbled, obviously trying his hardest not to yell at his friend.

"Aww, aren't you bitter about not knowing the full details?"

"Unlike you," Noctis sighed, "I know where my attention is needed and have to act accordingly as- Prompto stop waving food in front of my face."

"Lightning Farron **_likes _**sweets. A lot."

There really wasn't a response from the prince, other than the bored look he got from looking at the paperwork in front of him. He yawned a couple times before answering:

"So what?"

"Well, it is a nice detail to know about your potential wi- I mean bodyguard." Carefully choosing his words so he would not get slapped again, Prompto added. "Plus the Dynasty Ball is happening next week; don't you think it's pretty_ sweet_ that Lightning is going to be there?"

"That's enough sugar for you today squirt." Gladious caught Prompto head with his arm.

"Hey! Let go I haven't told you the best part! Her real name is Éclair!"

Noctis didn't pay much attention to what was being said while Prompto was being dragged off to play video games with Gladious. The last thing he vaguely registered was Ignis scolding Prompto that he got the wrong flavour of macarons and that he couldn't tell the difference between lavender and earl grey.

Despite being strict, worrisome and occasionally, a bad influence (the blame falls on Prompto), the trio were very close to Noctis, you could say close like brothers. And the thing about brothers is that they know what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what irritates you and motivates you to pursue your goals ad things you genuinely love. As stubborn the little prince may be, the three of them eventually understood Noctis's struggle to keep a cool façade amongst the evils of society for the sake of the kingdom, working to control his powers, and unfortunately, his tendency to be rebellious. But, if someone were to ask the first and most important thing they should know about their precious prince:

Noctis Lucis Caelum **_doesn't_** like sweets. At all.

He doesn't like the lingering taste it leaves on his tongue, leaving you itching for something to get rid of it. Rather he's picky with what he eats because of his sensitive appetite, since sugar usually makes him feel sick frequently. It wasn't easy for him to explain his preferred palette to others since he's terrible with words in the first place.

Even as a child, Noctis wasn't fond of sweets. Back in his school days where he met his delinquent friend Prompto, he tried to coax the prince to play a game of tag with ice cream, to which little Noctis refused.

_"Aww! Your majesty won't even accept a peasant's gift?"_

_ Noctis shook his head and looked down, after telling Prompto he was grateful for his 'thoughtfulness'. He didn't really understand Prompto's self-depreciating humor and actually was on the verge of tears of hurting the other's boy feelings. Prompto thankfully didn't notice it._

_"Then why won't don't you want it?"_

_"Ice cream… is a dairy product."_

_"Yeah that's right! Dairy is a food group! That means ice cream is healthy and should be eaten for breakfast, lunch-"_

_"I'm lactose intolerant."_

_"…Oh."_

He managed to use this excuse and among others to refuse eating sweets until much later in their life Prompto found him sharing an éclair in the library with his father. Prompto wasn't the brightest child, but he didn't need to think to realize what Noctis was eating consisted of a cream based. He was fairly sure, that cream was certainly a dairy product.

_"OH THE HORROR!"_

_"Shut up, Prompto. The servants are getting disturbed."_

_"BUT YOU DIDN'T TRUST ME TO SAY THAT YOU DIDN'T LIKE SWEETS?!"_

_"Would you have believed me?"_

_"…"_

_"…"_

_"No…"_

Noctis didn't bother wasting his energy on Prompto up to that point since he already used the entire afternoon to convince Prompto that it was just a preference for his appetite.

And from the way Prompto was attempting to 'hint' at something, Noctis took that as a sign as more unpleasant things happening at the ball. He made the connection with Prompto's patisserie visit to Yeul, Noel's adoptive sister, who has 'visions' about certain things. He vaguely assumed Yeul must have said something to him if she had a vision. If unpleasant things had to occur, like entertaining Sir Gilgamesh and his brother Enkidu during the holidays would surely be very unfortunate.

Or worse…what if it was Aldercapt that he was stuck with throughout the evening?

He surely did not want to be stuck around these crazy old folks during the holidays, let alone be the victim of nagging from the enemy nation's emperor. The old man was still after the Lucii crystal since his childhood.

He'll just have to stay away from people at the ball for as long as possible. Again.

* * *

**A/N: Was a little conflicted whether to put Prompto's mini backstory and the dialogue was awkward to edit as ever. Not much was really edited from the original posting back on A03. Likely I'll edit everything again before posting the last chapter on both sites.**

**At most, I can only see it should be 3-4 chapters. (Yeah updates will be extremely slow, but I'll finish it!)**

**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and I would like to read your thoughts and inputs. **٩(◕‿◕｡)۶


	3. Eclair Farron

**A/N: *eats carrots* Chapter 3 is up!**

* * *

"Noel, please calm down, it's only us that's catering desserts this evening."

Noel was completely agitated. After Prompto mentioned something about Lightning finding interests in other 'sweets', it meant probably meant that Lightning was betraying his hard work for some competitor.

He felt every dream of he had of being the best bakers in the world become violated. After all, he didn't study the various metric systems in culinary school in vain. He couldn't! One could only put so much faith in and effort perfecting dessert soufflés for the first few years of his post-secondary education.

Now he could not sit still and was constantly patrolling the refreshment table of the ball room, with Yeul starting to become impatient with that perpetual frown of his.

"You are being a disturbance, please reconsider your behaviour." He skeptically glanced at the tray of white chocolate mousse with the plastic holly decorations shoved into his presence.

"Shouldn't those be for the guests?"

"You're right, it's a shame they don't want any of it since they've seen the unfriendly baker glaring everywhere." Yeul forced a cup into his hands. "According to science, chocolate makes people happy. It's going to be a long night." She turned to serve the guests, leaving her brother to play with the decorative spoon attached to the dessert cup.

"Look who left Yeul to do all the work."

"Didn't think I see you here."

"Lightning has a shift here for tonight; apparently family members of employees were allowed to come."

Serah smoothed out the ruffles on the front of her formal ball gown with her white opera gloves. The most notable feature was the heart shaped bodice lined with a darker shade of maroon silk and the large sash of the same color that fastened around her waist. Her hair was tied up in a side bun with a white silk ribbon.

Pink dress to match pink hair. _ How cute._

"So I would expect your crazy solider sister is dressed in GC uniform?"

"As per usual. 'Duty calls.' Is how she addresses it."

"And Snow?"

"Was threatened not to be here by you-know-who." Serah sighed.

"And how is you-know-who faring with sweets?"

The only response from her was the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

According to Serah, Lightning was behaving like she usually was and still ignoring her sweets since the beginning of the month. Just recently her sister insisted that she had to do her Christmas shopping alone, and frequently left the house and returned extremely late into the night.

"We have gifts for everyone under the tree already and I didn't see anything new. I already have a gift address from her too so I don't know what's she's thinking."

"Huh. I don't see the correlation with her rejecting my hard work." Noel grumbled and scooped some of the mousse into his mouth. "Let's wait until the holidays are over, it's probably cause this year she's been assigned a lot missions. She's not the kind to give herself a break right?"

Serah shook her head. Noel was probably right. It may have been some top secret mission details that Lightning couldn't disclose or didn't even know considering her rank. Noel introduced her to some new treats his patisserie was catering, a start to wipe off the scary aura he carried since the start of the event.

"These are maple glaze chiffon cakes and over there by the punch bowl are cream puffs with eggnog filling."

Serah looked around the refreshment table. Sparkling cranberries and mint decorated the plates of sweets after another. Noel and Yeul really proved themselves to be the best when it came to catering, though she felt like something was missing.

"Various chocolate barks of the popular holiday flavors can be found can be found beside the children's candy bags…"

"Noel…"

"Oh and that's the peppermint panna cotta beside the balsamic strawberry gateaux. There's a few berry syrups Yeul made for that."

"Hey Noel…"

"We've decide to offer the rustic pear galettes along with some black currant glaze since-"

"NOEL!"

He almost dropped his dessert cup when Serah raised her voice. No one else seemed to notice but them. Now that the baker had given her his full attention, Serah asked:

"What happened to the hazelnut pastries that were requested last week?"

Noel rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hey let's not talk about that here-"

"He submitted the order Lestallum's Agriculture Centre a little too late."

He didn't need to turn around to see Yeul's scary emotionless face: it was practically making a permanent scar into his back as her aura was pressuring him not to do anything to provoke her.

She didn't say anything else to him other than to greet their friend when she was intending to see that her brother finally lightened up so that he wasn't scaring any of the guests away.

"By chance, we did get enough hazelnuts to make some flavored cream as a sweetener for liking of the client. We're lucky that his majesty King Regis understood the situation to dismiss the mistake on our part." She then pointed to what seemed to be like an ice cream dispenser. There were 6 large tubs in different colors.

"We've provided vanilla bean, coffee, and green tea flavored creams. You can add it to a plain bread roll or a warm beverage to add flavor to your preference. The golden tub between the white peach and strawberry creams is the hazelnut flavor."

Yeul held out her tray of white chocolate mousse cups, silently commanding Noel to hold it for her. Fearing for his life, he obliged to her request. She proceeded to the cream dispenser and took a small sample of the hazelnut. She took a few plain biscuits and offered them to Serah.

"Try it." She offered.

Hesitant, she did as her friend requested. From Serah's perspective, the cream was a pale brown color, and possessed smooth stiff peaks. She dipped a biscuit into the cream and took a bite.

"The cream is really rich."

Yeul nodded in agreement. "How does it _taste_?"

"It's really good, Yeul! It's pleasantly sweet."

Serah was enjoying the taste of the cream until she realized something. It was too late to adjust or take back what she said at that moment because as she glanced at Yeul, she could see her friend smiling a little too _sweetly_ at her brother.

"Do you see the problem now Noel? Hazelnut. Is. Not. Meant. To. Be. Sweet."

Noel gulped. "But at least the children like it right?"

"Our target audience for hazelnut cream was meant to be for the adult clients. The children already have vanilla bean and the chocolate syrup!"

"Ok, but we only have enough hazelnuts for the base of the cream so I had to add more sugar and cream to balance it out." Although Yeul was extremely good at hiding her emotions, her aura was starting to become overwhelming.

Hoping to distract his sister from giving him her death glare, he quickly changed the subject and asked Serah, "You said Lightning asked Snow to do a favor right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Did you ever find out what it was?"

Serah shrugged, she didn't even consider asking her fiancé and sister what they were planning. While pondering her thoughts, her eyes caught a familiar red cape flowing up the grand staircase that lead up into a private terrace of the Lucian palace.

* * *

"Strange that someone like you wouldn't be having the time of his life downstairs don't you think?"

Leaning against a pillar, Prompto wrapped himself in his arms to fight the chilly breeze blowing through. He was in no mood to engage himself in the festivities from the ballroom. His slight pounding headache didn't make it any better to deal with snickering of the girl that found a hiding spot in the terrace.

"S-shut it you l-little b-b-brat!" he hissed out.

"Well it is _your_ fault for walking around without a jacket, despite having Mr. Scientia specifically warning you about catching a cold."

"S-shouldn't you be trying to f-figure out h-how to get out of the mess you m-made instead of l-l-listening i-into every c-c-conversation I have Lumina?"

The girl hopped toward the edge of the balcony and proudly stood with her hands on her hips, glancing down at the red carpet of the palace entrance where security cars and carriages were moving about into the underground parking. She spun around playing with the black lace of her elegant skirt before glancing devilishly at her ill companion.

"But where's the fun in that Prompto?"

_Always threatening me as usual… _he thought bitterly, he rubbed his hands up and down his arms vigorously when a sharp breeze blew pass.

"Ah! Another thing," Lumina jumped down and hopped right beside his shivering form. "Did it work?"

"Yeah. It looks like Lightning took it a step further and tried making something that would suit Noct's taste."

Lumina started howling with laughter. The little pink ponytail at the side of her head violent shook as she struggled to breathe in stable breaths.

"Lightning? Cooking? HAHAHAHAHA!" The poor girl fell down to her side and almost gave in to rolling around on the smooth marble of the terrace. "Yeah only when Eldercapt's eyebrows become a fashion statement! HAHA!"

"Clearly it's one of those rare moments when I'm seriously disappointed at what you used to be." Prompto sighed.

"Yeah wait until you find out how much a dare devil _we_ used to be~" Lumina slowly breathed out, still shaking uncontrollably after the news. "And little Prince Nocty? How's he doing?"

"He's fine. Just being the sleepy lazy bum as usual."

"Haaaa? He's still alive after eating what she made?"

"You make it sound lethal, kid."

"It has every reason to be since this is _Lightning_ we are talking about. _We _would have been much more realistic in our expectations"

Prompto thought long and hard about if this was even worth it in the end. "Sometimes," he started, "I wonder why you can't think of anything else to progress instead of putting my best friend's life on the line."

"I have a creative imagination!" she chirped. "And since Nocty survived that just means _Sleeping Beauty_ is awakening, right Prompto?" Lumina then linked her arm around Prompto's and swung it joyfully up and down as if they completed a difficult adventure of sorts.

Prompto didn't have anything to say since he started to sneeze repeatedly and gratefully accepted an elegant black handkerchief from Lumina as he blew his nose into it.

"Good work Prompto! Keep me updated about _our _status since Lightning won`t let me hang around the house anymore." She ran back to her original spot on the balcony. "Oh if there is anything I can help you with about that cold of yours let me know!"

Prompto sighed and he weakly looked up at her. "Well there is one thing…"

"Hmm?" she leaned toward him, comically lending him an ear. "What's that?"

"Could you get some peppermint tea from Ignis's room?"

She drew herself from leaning toward him and took a look at Prompto's features. Nose was red from running, eyes puffed up and watery, and the poor fellow was hunched up trying to keep himself warm. A Prompto without a smile was quite pitiful to see. She smiled sympathetically at him before saying:

"Nope!"

She quickly jumped into a black cloud that appeared behind her and disappeared from his sight just like that, leaving Prompto to produce a unique combination of colorful profanities out of his sore throat.

But to Lumina, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, waiting to thrive and bloom. She squealed delightfully.

_Step 3 down._

_Another 10 to go._

* * *

_**A/N:** _

Chapter 4 will be a short epilogue~

I don't have a beta, so if something doesn't sound right/or sounds like content is out of place to you guys let me know!


	4. Le Cadeau

**A/N: Ok it's not a short epilogue *tosses computer out the window***

Looking at Insomnia's cityscape from the terrace was strangely peaceful during the evening of the Dynasty Ball. The misty sky's moonlight illuminated the fluffy snowflakes and the pearly white of the marble flooring of the terrace. Distinctive patterns of diamonds and Caelum crest throughout the generations of the royal family was embedded in the tiles were a magnificent work of art for the passersby.

Unfortunately for Lightning, she couldn't use it as a distraction for very long, her break was almost up and the package wrapped in white was starting to warm up from her nervous grip.

_What are you getting nervous about? Just give it to give him and leave for your shift! You don't have to talk to him, it's just a thank you present for your employer's boss's son… it's not a big deal. Really it isn't. _

She paced back and forth of the terrace behind the English Ivy arch, continuously arguing with her ridiculous irrational thoughts and dwindling voice of reason, with the white wrapping paper starting to crumple in her grip.

_Ugh! But it's not just your employer's boss's son, he's a prince! The hier to the Lucian throne, no less… Is he even going to like this? But Noctis is a decent man, he doesn't just 'reject' gifts in front of people, so calm down. But what if it's too sweet? Good Etro, what if I give him food poisoning? I don't even know the full details of Lucian First Aid!_

If only Prompto didn't coax her into getting this… 'unnecessary' information.

_ -4 months ago-_

Lightning enjoyed her patrol around the botanical gardens because it was relatively peaceful. Gardeners were tending to the flora and the chefs were collecting the fresh home grown vegetables that were ready to eat. Chocobo tamers collected the gyhsal greens for the birds to enjoy in their stables and the servants were well on their way with there business. She gave the occasional nod to her fellow co-workers of the GC if they crossed paths. Overall, she was generally pleased with where she was stationed.

"Heya my lil' pink lightblub!"

Except when Prompto showed up.

Immediately annoyed with the unwelcoming presence of the blond friend of the Lucian hier's clique, a paper was shoved into her face before she had a chance to shove Prompto's hand out of her personal space. She backed off and unwillingly gave a brief glance over it.

"A…Hazel tree…?"

Prompto nodded eagerly. Nothing else was said in those few moments.

"Is it even necessary to know what someone like you is scheming?" she replied warily.

"How mean! I'm not _scheming _anything. I'm… lending a hand." A sly smile played on his lips.

Before Lightning had a chance to walk a fair distance away, her source of annoyance spoke firmly. "I take you know some things about this tree?"

"No."

"Really? For someone who eats a lot of hazelnut tortes?"

Lightning froze in her tracks and eyed her attention to Prompto who innocently smiled while waving the paper in front of him. She actually didn't know anything about hazel trees and the fruit it produced , but Prompto seemed to be hinting at a sweet tooth that she been hiding. She masked her shock pretty well for Prompto was oblivious to the dangerous aura that was bottling inside her.

"I just want to see how much people know about the plant that's all." He playfully hopped towards the solider. "Entertain me, I'm bored."

"I'm on duty."

"Your break should have started 3 and a half minutes ago."

Annoyed that Prompto had saw a glimpse of her sweet tooth, she reluctantly complied to his request, hoping to mask up her guilty pleasure from his sight.

"Well obviously hazelnuts come from the hazel tree." Prompto rambled. "Have you tried hazelnut pralines?"

_Yes. Serah and I went to buy those along with the candy canes during Christmas holidays at the candy shop beside our elementary school._ "No."

Prompto curiously rubbed his chin. "I heard Hazelnuts have great health benefits. What do you think about Hazelnut oil?"

_It's great for baking sweets…_ "Oil is oil, you used it to cook whatever."

"Oh? What about hazelnut stuffed chocolate truffles?"

_Decadent and delicious. _"Unhealthy and unnecessary."

Prompto laughed. "Haha, yeah it's really sweet isn't it?"

"It is a confection." She deadpanned, although thanks to Prompto, she was tempting to head to the luxury chocolate shops in Downtown Insomnia to grab a few treats herself.

"You're right about that. Noctis hates chocolate."

Lightning was about to make another random nonchalant comment to finally bored Prompto until her brain registered in what he said.

"What?!"

Prompto turned to look at her now, although he wasn't shocked by her sudden and subtle (of sorts) outburst, he seemed oddly… pleased. "Noct hates chocolate.

While they stood side by side eyeing each other, Prompto clarified slowly. "Noct isn't a person who likes sweets. One of the reasons why the other kids couldn't take him seriously back then either, since every kid's dream is a magical candy factory. And he is our little prince who likes reading, exploring and of course… napping."

Prompto fumbled through his bag and brought out two pastries, each individually wrapped in clear plastic. He tossed one to Lightning and opened the one left in his hand, taking a massive bite. Some light brown cream squirted out of his bite.

"But…" as he said with his mouth full, "Noct does seldomly consume sugary products. Like this thing right here."

Lightning eyed at the pastry warily and understood Prompto's intention. "I'm not eating it."

"Why?"

"You took it out of that sketchy bag of yours and I follow a strict diet designed for the GC. I don't even know what it is."

Prompto merely shrugged it off but continued with his proposal. "It's a cream puff with hazelnut cream filling." He wiped the excess cream from his lips and mischievously smiled. "Real hazelnut cream doesn't taste that sweet."

"Why are you telling me your friend's picky eating habits?"

"Oh, cause I think it may be of use to you, to know a few things about our dear future leader…"

"I fail to see myself picking up food for you since that's not my job description and that you have a nice car to drive yourself there to pick it up."

Prompto shook his head disappointingly. "No, no I don't mean that! I mean it's just that Noct is… socially awkward, and single, and that he's a bit of a _lone_ wolf so he doesn't do that well with social gatherings… did I mention he's single?

"My job isn't to help your _future leader_ with social skills. I regretfully admit it, being a sergeant doesn`t give me the opportunity to build it up either."

She watched Prompto sigh in exasperation again.

"Break time is up. Duty calls."

In defeat, Prompto agreed to request, but before leaving, he walked past her snickering. "Noctis really likes hazelnut cream eclairs. Just so you know."

-_3 weeks ago_-

To this day, Lightning never understood Prompto's reason for such pointless information and she didn't understand why she was interested at all.

At the beginning of December, she was given an early notification that she and the members of GC would patrol the palace grounds overnight for the annual Dynasty Ball. Since Noctis and his entourage (minus Prompto) had been extremely courteous to her, she decided to get them gifts since she constantly met them everyday at work. Ignis received lavender extract for his flavor laboratory. For Gladiolus, she gave him a massive cart of his favorite chili sauce she scored from Lebreau's bar. Prompto will received 15 punches for being a major pain in her neck, she still had 2 left to give him before the month was over.

But what could she give to Noctis? What could she give to a Prince who already had any material possession he could own?

She had no idea what state of mind she was in, but she concluded that making hazelnut cream eclairs would be the best idea. She really hated Prompto for contributing his 'input'. She could have gotten Noctis a pillow or something and be done with it.

But fresh hazelnuts were limited in supply this season and she wouldn't even have the time to pick up a batch unless she gave in to ask for help.

"Oh heya Sis!"

From the one person she hated the most.

"I'm not your sister." She replied coldly.

"Haha! I was just heading out-"

Lightning cut him off before dragging the obnoxious man into a dark corner outside the bar where she found him. Even through the darkness of the night, the dim lights of the decorative tiki lamps were enough for the man to feel the warning of Lightning's intense stare.

"Heading off to Lestallum, right Snow?"

"Yeah…" he replied nervously, wondering what he did this time. "Did you find out from Serah?"

Lightning nodded slowly. "Correct. I need you to do me a favour."

-_Present_-

She almost punched Snow into a pulp for picking up the fresh hazelnuts very late, but he impressively got the best ones out before they were all ordered by bakeries for their limited edition pastries to be made over the holidays. Considering she had to give Snow her thanks despite the difficulty of finding a small batch in a supermarket, she let Snow go without punching him.

But now she had another problem: How sweet, is unsweeten?

And from the results of the experiments she tired, every batch of hazelnut cream has either burnt, tasted sweet (probably sweet enough to knock out Noctis), grew fuzz the next day or came to life on its own.

She really could have asked Yeul or Serah to help her out, but she couldn't do it. After all, it wasn't like she… enjoyed Noctis's company. It was just a small thank you gift, for being a cooperative co-worker. Because after all, Lightning Farron would never fall in l-

"Lightning?"

Stopping in her tracks she turned her head slowly seeing a pair of glowing red eyes staring confusingly at her. Noctis was on the other side of the Ivy Arch from where he was originally sitting staring at the distance. The only way to tell it was actually him was by the silhouette the moonlight illuminated with his spiky hair.

"Hey." She called out awkwardly. "So what are you doing here?"

"Taking a nap, but thought someone was muttering some crazy incantation of sorts and woke up."

_Crap did he hear all of that?! Oh I am so screw-_

"Guess it was my imagination though…" he yawned and rubbed his eyes. Still tired as he usually was, his eyes returned to the dark blue color they originally were.

_Ok close call. Now just walk up to him and say here you go, a thank you gift just for a successful term working part time as your body guard and the sorts then be on your way and get back on shift-_

"Your… package is crumbling…"

Immediately looking down, the blue ribbon and white wrapping was crushed under her grip. She fumbled around smoothing around the ribbon and shoved it into his presence. "HERE!"

Frankly, it didn't really go as Lightning planned. Obviously the awkward silence wasn't making it better. It was even worse when Noctis was contributing to it, oblivious to the dilemma Lightning was trashing about in too. He took the package from her hand and gave a polite nod not even minding the crushed wrapping paper and pull it apart. In the center of the unwrapping was a bag of hazelnuts still in their shell.

"Prompto said something about you liking-"

"He lied."

"…hazelnuts but I- wait what?"

"Something about a hazelnut pastry right? He's just living in his own head and imagined it was a cream puff or whatever it was I was sharing with my dad back then when really it was a bread roll and that nasty ghysal green soup with brown butter. Prompto practically said it to everyone and now I'm living a lie." Noctis rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation and played with the bag of crushed nuts. "So… I take that you tried to make some nutty cream of sorts right? How did that go?"

"If Ignis was a laboratory inspector he would have shut down my kitchen by now."

Noctis laughed muttering how much of a disaster it could have been. He took a couple of the crushed nuts and held out the bag to Lightning while scooting over to one side of the bench. "A gift is more enjoyable when it shared." He replied.

And for the first time of this December, Lightning thought that perhaps in this moment, it would have been enough sugar to last her until the next year.

**A/N: If you didn't get ch 3 that's ok because I unintentionally expanded the story into a longer fanfic and a shorter one too. Probably won't have the time to start writing unitl the distant future.**

**What have I done. *crawls into a cave***


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